Journal of a Living Lady #114

 

Nancy White Kelly

 

            Cancer patients shouldn’t have to deal with scams. But we do.

            I have been the primary bill-writer for our household since the early days of our marriage. Buddy brought home his paycheck and I made out the bills. What was his was mine and what was mine was mine. I was happy with the arrangement.

However, due to my medical prognosis, Buddy wisely decided to learn how to manage the household finances. I keep a detailed notebook that goes back several decades, but it wasn’t enough for him to feel totally comfortable. I would be equally lost trying to trouble-shoot our car engine or fix the well pump no matter how many detailed notes he had carefully written down.

Several months ago Buddy and I started doing the bills together and now he can handle it on his own though I check behind him at his insistence. Buddy would echo this advice: all couples should have a mutually clear understanding of family financial matters. Wives do not always out-live their husbands.

I still have my little secret hiding places, but Buddy understands that this is a woman thing. Nothing big. Just a few dollars. I know Buddy usually keeps a bill or two stashed between the pictures in his bill-fold. That is okay. We aren’t talking micro-managing here.

I admit to never balancing our personal check book. I know how much should be in the checking account and if it looks close, I accept it. Buddy followed the same strategy until recently. We both noticed a $49.99 charge on our monthly bank account statement to an organization with an exotic name. Looking back at our old records, we found that our bank account had been debited each month for nearly a year for that exact amount. 

Somehow this flim-flam organization got our bank account information and arranged to automatically debit our account. It could have been easily rectified had we caught it much sooner, but there is a limit as to how far you can go back to challenge unauthorized debits. In our case, laziness in examining our periodic bank statement  cost us over $200.

The sleazy company from New York wasn’t traceable and we consider ourselves fortunate that we weren’t out even more. We no longer have a debit card and even refuse an ATM card. Credit cards aren’t a problem because we never charge anything we can’t pay at the end of the month.  Spending what you don’t have is foolish.

Medical bills are a different story. There is something terribly wrong with the system. I don’t have the answer but sure wish the government, the HMO’s and private insurance companies would get their heads together and straighten out this billing fiasco. It won’t be easy. Wish I had a dollar for each phone call I have made to medical establishments trying to get everybody on the same page. It’s like the old Bud Abbot and Lou Costello routine of “Who’s on First?”  except now it is, “Who is primary? Who is secondary? “

            A doctor was walking on a treadmill at an exercise spa. To break the boredom, he asked the guy on the facing treadmill, ''Wanna hear a managed care joke?'' 

            The dignified man replied, ''Well, before you tell that joke, you should know something. I'm 6' tall, 200 lbs and I'm a HMO lawyer. That fellow over there lifting weights is 6'2'' tall and weighs 225 pounds. He's the CEO of the largest private health insurer in the nation.  And that gentleman doing curl-ups is 6'5'' tall and weighs 250 pounds. He is a big honcho in the U.S. Department of Health. Now, you still want to tell that joke?'' 
             The doctor says, ''Nah, I don't want to have to explain it three times.''

 

 

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May 24, 2001